Massacre disturbs, entertains

Do human beings deserve to be put on meat hooks and cut into better packaged parts? It's those deeper questions that are probed in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And it's not just a question of deranged cannibalism (which allows the scene of the crime to be decorated with the leftovers), but who decides to kill anything in the first place.

There is no supernatural enitity in this film. As you could probably guess, this makes it worse. What you do have is a family of lunatics who maim, slice, freeze, and - yes - saw their victims who play unsuspectingly into their hands. There is suspense and anything unbelievingly horrific is implied.

A good natured, but ignorantly planned trip to visit a grandfather's abandoned house is taken up by five people. They are too young and unwise to realize they are far into a middle of nowhere where goodwill should be doubted. But even being naive doesn't take you where they will end up.

On the way to their destination Franklin, Sally, Kirk, Pam, and Gary drive by a slaughter house. This event triggers a key discussion on what exactly happens to a cow before it turns into meat, which conveniently foreshadows the method in which they later die. This is just one of many graphic analogies presented in the film. For example, the deranged hitchiker they pick up keeps up with the conversation, but, to the horror of the other passengers, he slices his hand with a knife. This event is more than just a brief meeting with a pycho. They throw him out of the car and drive away, but, as is the formula for movies like Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the psycho returns - with his entire family.

Texas is shown as stifling and decrepid. There are dead animals lying on broken wood; brown grass, wild weeds, and the heat. This sweaty, drowsy environment leaves it open for anything disturbing to occur, and the isolation of the cinematography leaves an eerie feeling.

Would it help if viewers knew that at least someone is left untouched by a sledge hammer? Or that some of the most horrid images in the film aren't shown in their entirety but in ambiguous slivers or quick flashes? In the end, it really doesn't matter if every death isn't drawn out for hours, or that we don't see most of the torture scenes. Because the hollow droning music and shadowy images are enough. The discovery is brutal, very brutal.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre is showing tonight in Kettering at 7:30, 9:30 and 11:30 for $1.